I love this thread. We are starting a new food budget and this has helped me sooooo much!!!

Here are four of our favorite budget dishes - I haven't priced them out individually, but can always count on them to be affordable and liked by the whole family!

Cheapie Pizzas:
For each pizza - 1/4 c marinara sauce,
1 small whole-wheat pita, 2 slices deli turkey chopped or shredded, 1 Tbsp chopped scallions, 2 Tbsp part-skim mozzarella. Heat under broiler or on cookie sheet in 400 oven until cheese melts slightly. These are so much cheaper and healthier than take-out!

Mock Shepherd's Pie
Brown at least 1 lb of ground turkey or beef with finely chopped onions, some garlic or garlic powder to taste, and salt/pepper. While meat browns, whip up one batch mashed potatoes - homemade, envelope, box, whatever - your choice! When meat is done, blend in 1 can mushroom soup thinned with 1/2 can milk or water, 1 TB soy or worcestershire sauce, 1 - 2 cups frozen peas/carrots or mixed vegetables. Place meat/veg mixture in baking dish, top with mashed potatoes. If you have a little grated cheese, sprinkle on top. Heat in 350 oven until heated through and potatoes begin to brown. This is a really cheap recipe that our family has always loved - just watch for the ingredients on sale, then you can have them in reserve.

Variation on Meat Pie as above: Prepare the same way, but top with frozen "Tater Tots" instead of mashed potatoes. The generic brands are cheap and good!

Hippie Stir-Fry:
Buy the veggies that are the cheapest in-season and that family will like: zucchini, yellow squash, broccoli, red onion, red/green bell pepper, carrot, celery, etc. Saute in large skillet or wok in thin layer of cooking oil. Add minced garlic (watch for jars on sale), tofu or leftover meat if desired. When ingredients reach your preferred level of done-ness, remove from heat and season to taste with hoisin, plum sauce, and/or chili garlic sauce, bought at sales of course - try the dollar store or Asian markets for these. Serve over brown rice. The trick to keeping this dish on budget is finding the veggies at their lowest price, and stocking the sauce and rice into the pantry when you find a deal.

I now buy lots of pastas, spices and sauces at the Dollar Tree - it's helped my cooking budget, just as the cleaners have for our household expenses. Best of luck!

I have 2 boys 12 & 17 and a strapping DH so feeding them for under $5 is a chore, but a couple of things we love are:

Mac-N-Beef
2 boxes of mac-n-cheese (kraft is best when on sale but store brand is fine)
1 lb ground beef
Cajun seasoning
Shredded cheese

Just brown the beef while the mac noodles are boiling. After draining the noodles, put noodles and browned beef back in large pot and add the cheese mix (according to directions). Mix well and serve in bowls topped with cajun seasoning (more spice, more heat) and shredded cheese. Add a salad or veggie on the side. Boys LOVE this and sometimes there is enough left for me for lunch the next day.

Also, we love making our own pizzas! The Martha White pizza crust mix is 79 cents here and you just add water. Then we top with whatever is on sale (beef, chicken, ground turkey, sausage), cheap spaghetti sauce (don't use much so doesn't have to be the best), veggies, and cheese.

Boys also love soup and grilled cheese night

Tuna casserole - egg noodles, 2 cans cream of mushroom or chicken soup, 2 cans tuna, a little worchestershire sauce, leftover cracker crumbs on top. Serve with peas.

Tuna cakes - 2 cans tuna, 1 box stuffing, 1/3 cp mayo, 1 cp chedder cheese, 2 tbsp sweet relish, 3/4 cp water. They take 3 minutes on each side in a skillet. Add noodles or rice and leftover veggies.

I don't see anyone who has listed Chicken & Rice

I usually buy a whole chicken and boil it but only use part of the chicken for chicken & rice and I also freeze the chicken water. I'm not sure if it falls into the $5 and under but it's definately not more than $7.

1 Can Cream of Mushroom (store brand)
1 Can Cream of Chicken (store brand)
Rice
Chicken boiled and pulled into small pieces.

Throw it all in a pot with some salt and pepper (or whatever spices you choose) and boil until the rice is cooked and the soup is thick.

Sometimes if we're feeling spunky we might add a little bit of smoked sausage. I also like to add some pees and carrots to get some veggies for the day. You could also cook it down until thick and then put it in a casserole dish and top with bread crumbs, then stick it in the oven for a bit. For some reason my husband seems to think it's better when it's served casserole-style. I think it's a mental thing, but whatever works is fine with me.

I also like Jumbalaya (hope I spelled that right)
Just buy a family-size box of Jumbalaya mix, add smoked sausage (or meat of your choice) and boil it. Great tasting, cheap, and quick. It is a little spicy so some of the children might not like it. My kids (3 and 1.5) love it.

Also a big hit last night was Cheeseburger meatloaf. It's Paula Deen's recipe.

2 Pound hamburger meat
diced onions
diced bell pepper
1/2 c ritz crackers
1 c cheese - she says cheddar but I use what I have on hand
worcestershire sauce (1/2 cup)
salt and pepper

Roll it all together and form into a log. Cook on 325 for 45-an hour. I usually split my mix in half and freeze one half for a quick meal on a busy day. If you do that then your meal is really on a couple dollars. Even after splitting the recipe in half we still had enough for leftovers for today's lunch. I can't wait to bring out my frozen one to cook. That will be cheap and easy meal one day next week.

She also gives a recipe for a sauce to go over it:
1 can Cream of Mushroom
1 soup can full of water
1 cup of cheese

This is a family favorite from when I was young.

Beef-Macaroni Combo

2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup milk
1 Tbsp dried onion
1 tsp Salt
1 lb ground beef
1 pkg Kraft Dinner (can use Deluxe or Regular (I prefer Regular))
1/2 cup chopped green pepper (optional)
2 tsp Prepared Mustard
1/2 cup croutons

Combine first 5 ingredients like you would for a meatloaf. Add beef and mix well. Cook macaroni following package directions, then drain. Stir in green pepper (if using), mustard, and 1/2 package of cheese (I use all of the package I love the flavor). Spread into a greased 12 x 7 1/2 x 2 Inch baking dish.. I just use a casserole dish. Top with the meat mixture. Sprinkle or Dot the remaining sauce mix on top (if you used the whole package, you can buy dry cheese mix in the bulk section, or I usually steal from a box of KD). Sprinkle with the croutons. Bake uncovered at 350F for 35 to 40 minutes or until beef is cooked.

Serves 6 to 8

I LOVE THIS STUFF.. My hubby likes it too. When I was looking for cheap meals, we found out that this is actually one of the better ones out there.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

TJ

BB Cups

Homemade dough $.50
1lb hamburger $2.08
1 cup bbq sauce $.30
1/3 cup brown sugar $.15
granted cheese $.15

brown hamburger
once brown, add bbq sauce and brown sugar, let carmalize
roll out dough, cut to fit into muffin pan
press down in the muffing pan holes
fill with the hamburger,bbq sauce and brown sugar mix
top with cheese.

bake 375 20-25 minutes.

YUM!!

Total cost of 12 bb cups $3.68

i'm gonna try these sound yummy and something my dh would eat(he is picky)

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HAVE A BOOTIFUL HALLOWEEN

Thank you so much for this idea! I have mac n cheese in the house and I am going to try this with ground turkey. DH and I are really trying to st-re-tch the budget so this is a great idea for what we already have on hand!

Also, thanks to mommy2mercedes, I am making baked eggplant parmesan tonight. I only had to buy the eggplant, already had tomato puree, spices, shredded mozzarella and breadcrumbs on hand!

Wow! These are all great ideas for cheap dinners! Just when I think I've run out of ideas, you ladies provide me with more. Thank you!